Noob question about SSDs

[flasper]

I got a SSD in my new comoputer, and my question is, what do I have to do to get the best us of it? I read that its supposed to make load times faster and make games run smoother. Do I have to do anything special to make my games get the full use out of it?

This is my SSD: 64 GB ADATA S501 V2 SATA III 6.0G/s Gaming MLC Solid State Disk

Thanks

[Dashield28]

i have 2 60GB ones that i keep Windows on. My games are on my second HDD. windows load times, programs and just everything related to windows starts up super fast.

[Ignorance]

After Windows, you won't have "much" room on a 64gb drive for games (I also have a 64gb SSD with Windows 7).

Whatever you do put on it, however, will load faster as your have read. So any games you do fit on there will load faster. For example, if you put WoW on your SSD, it will go through the load screens faster.

[georgevonfranken]

First make sure its plugged into a sata 3 port

[Djinni]

I got a SSD in my new comoputer, and my question is, what do I have to do to get the best us of it? I read that its supposed to make load times faster and make games run smoother. Do I have to do anything special to make my games get the full use out of it?

This is my SSD: 64 GB ADATA S501 V2 SATA III 6.0G/s Gaming MLC Solid State Disk

Thanks

IT does nothing at all to make your games run smoother.... It *MIGHT* reduce your loading screen times a bit. But it's unlikely it'll make any real difference to your gaming experience.

[Skelly]

IT does nothing at all to make your games run smoother.... It *MIGHT* reduce your loading screen times a bit. But it's unlikely it'll make any real difference to your gaming experience.

I don't agree with your definition of smooth. To me, loading screens =/= smooth.
Its true an SSD will do nothing to improve your FPS (unless you're FRAPSing but thats a whole different story).

If I recall correctly, even first gen SSDs cut most WoW load screens in half.
I would put Windows on the SSD, along with WoW and whatever programs load at startup. You should have just enough room for all of that.
Make sure to set your default downloads folder to your other Hard Drive.

---------- Post added 2011-07-14 at 02:08 PM ----------

First make sure its plugged into a sata 3 port

This shouldn't make any difference. Only the very top end SSDs are getting bottlenecked by SATA2

[Deleted]

It will really impact your experience with load times, WoW is really noticeable, for instance.

[georgevonfranken]

This shouldn't make any difference. Only the very top end SSDs are getting bottlenecked by SATA2

SATA III 6.0G/s

Its a sata 3 ssd so i assume it has sata 3 ssd speeds

[Skelly]

SATA III 6.0G/s

Its a sata 3 ssd so i assume it has sata 3 ssd speeds

That's a bad assumption. Even HDDs are being sold with the "SATA3 6.0Gb/s" moniker tagged on. There is no way an HDD can saturate a SATA1 (1.5Gb/s) port, let alone a 6.0Gb/s port.
Its just a marketing gimmick to make people think it will be faster.

[flasper]

Thanks for the advice, I haven't put anything on it yet. So i just install my game(s)/Windows 7 on my SSD and im good to go?

[Jurwi]

First make sure its plugged into a sata 3 port

Doubt it makes any difference with his SSD, doesn't sound like it's one of the fastest (which it more or less should be to actually get any speed advantage with the change from SATA2 to 3).

---------- Post added 2011-07-14 at 10:43 PM ----------

Thanks for the advice, I haven't put anything on it yet. So i just install my game(s)/Windows 7 on my SSD and im good to go?

Yes, that's all it takes. I wouldn't be too eager with the games though, just install windows 7 and all your most used software first and see how much you have left. It's good to always keep some empty room on your SSD, was it 15%? Anyone remember?

[Deleted]

You have to do a couple of things in windows and set your HDD in BIOS to AHCI to get the best out of it. After you disable some stuff, Windows should take up very little space on the SSD, 15GB iirc, Possibly less.

[Skelly]

Thanks for the advice, I haven't put anything on it yet. So i just install my game(s)/Windows 7 on my SSD and im good to go?

That's all there is to it.

[Deleted]

You'll really want to format your PC before installing an SSD. Then install Windows on the SSD (+ some programs) and you should be good to go.

Just remember, with a 64 GB SSD, you only get to use about 80-90% of the space.

[flasper]

You'll really want to format your PC before installing an SSD. Then install Windows on the SSD (+ some programs) and you should be good to go.

Just remember, with a 64 GB SSD, you only get to use about 80-90% of the space.

What if my computer came with the SSD already installed? I had my computer built from cyberpowerpc.com so I am assuming that its already installed. Is there anything I special i need to do if I already have windows 7 and my games installed on my normal HDD

[Uvania]

enable TRIM and be sure its running in AHCI but since u have Sata III the AHCI is on auto since i guess ur running a sandy bridge based system?

and if its only on 64gb make sure to just have WINDOWS on it and ur most important programs and have the rest on a storage disk, myself is running 64gb SSD for OS and 128gb Storage for programs/games which i will upgrade soon into a RAID 0 setup and a 2tb storage disk on 5400rpm

[Unionoob]

Keep your OS on it, but do not keep anything whats imortant and you don't want to lose. if regular HDD dies you still can get filed out of it, but if SSD dies its over, you lost everything what you had.

[georgevonfranken]

That's a bad assumption. Even HDDs are being sold with the "SATA3 6.0Gb/s" moniker tagged on. There is no way an HDD can saturate a SATA1 (1.5Gb/s) port, let alone a 6.0Gb/s port.
Its just a marketing gimmick to make people think it will be faster.

Quick search brings up these results for this ssd
SATA 6Gb/s
Read: Up to 355MB/S
Write: Up to 75MB/S
SATA 3Gb/s
Read: Up to 265MB/S
Write: Up to 75MB/S

[flasper]

What's the best/safest why to install windows on my SSD and take it off my HDD

[DeltrusDisc]

This is my SSD: 64 GB ADATA S501 V2 SATA III 6.0G/s Gaming MLC Solid State Disk

Except it's not a bad assumption - and SATA 3 SSDs ARE fast as shit. In fact most if not all of them about double the speeds of the former SATA 2 SSDs. If he pairs that SSD with a SATA 3 cable and SATA 3 port then he's going to see some very quick reads and writes.